Why I Like You
by TokehGecko
Summary: She lost a bet and now she has to teach him the Jutsu she hates the most. But that was what determined everything. NaruSaku


Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: Meh; …

Fanfiction Title: Why I Like You

Proofreader: None, sorry

---

He was close. He just had to wait a few more minutes before he could go. The shadows around him were guarding him, protecting him. Thanks to them, they couldn't see him, none of them could. Just a little bit more, and he would be safe for a while. Patience was the key and appearances will always be deceiving.

No longer could he hear footsteps or the whispers… those creepy whispers from before. No, he was safe right now.

Part of him wanted to remain, stay in this one spot where no one would see him. But no, he had to survive, had to prove them all wrong!

The sun was letting its rays grow around the buildings and his eyes widened as some shadows shrunk and some shadows grow. Of course, his shadows were shrinking. Already, sounds of people gathering came to his ears. There were many today, perhaps… too many? All of a sudden, a ray of light from the sun hit him in the eye. 'Crap, I'm thinking too much! Have to move, NOW!!'

Running as fast as his young legs would allow him, he dashed through the marketplace of Konoha, grabbing bread from several stands as he went. 'I'm sorry, but I will die if I don't take these!!' Absentmindedly, he also managed to grab a bottle of milk.

People on the market all saw the boy, the thief, run for his life as he was being chased by salesmen.

---

"**You're going to see a side of me no one's seen before…"**

"_Hm, I'm sure I'll be able to handle it!"_

"**I already know."**

---

His eyes were focused on his apartment. The windows were thrown in today again, he noticed. He didn't like eating in his own home, because he got interrupted frequently thanks to stones being thrown in. He never understood why people always wanted to break his windows…

Biting into the warm bread in his hands with a frown etched on his face, he couldn't help but mope a bit. 'I have money, but they always raise the prices whenever I want to buy something… It's never enough. Even if it's enough, they yell at me that I don't deserve to buy anything from them, because I… am too dirty.'

Another bite. 'I don't understand.'

The eight-year old Naruto was no fool. He knew people hated him and talked about him behind his back, but he didn't know why. Even before he pulled pranks, people hated him, so it couldn't be that.

Sighing as he finished the first bread and drinking from the bottle of milk, he noticed that the shadows in his apartment lightened up. 'Someone's in there…?'

---

"**I won't be home."**

---

Carefully pushing the door to his apartment open, he stuck his head inside and saw several stones on the ground. He sniffed his nose once and smelled perfume? 'A woman this time?'

He stepped inside after noticing no one was there and shut the door behind him. The door banged back open, but that always happened. It was a broken door and the lock, he asked a lot of times, was apparently not fixable. So he always had to sleep with the annoying sounds of the door swinging back and forth in the middle of the night.

As if his own nose wasn't making enough annoying sounds when he tried to sleep.

He ripped a piece of paper from one of the stones on the ground and smiled. 'Ha! Only one has a note this time!'

WATCH YOUR BACK it said. He rolled his eyes.

Throwing the stone back on the floor, he sat down on the ground and scratched his head as he tried to notice anything out of the ordinary. Normally, when someone entered his apartment, something was painted on the wall or something was broken.

He had chosen not to put too many things in his apartment because of that. Not that he could afford to buy many things for his apartment. He was happy the old man put a fridge in it, but with no electricity the thing was pretty much useless.

He jumped up and frowned; nothing's changed, nothing was broken. 'Who was in here?'

---

During night time, he usually jumped around Konoha, because he had nothing better to do. He currently was jumping from tree to tree.

Oh crap…

That tree branch looked a whole lot sturdier before.

"Arghh!!" Rubbing the back of his head, where it hurt the most, Naruto picked himself up from the ground and glared at the broken branch on the ground. 'Stupid tree.'

It was the evening he liked the most. Fewer people on the streets, lesser unkind words spoken to him and more space for him to run in. He was a child, after all.

"I've finally found you."

He shrieked. He put a hand in front of his mouth, embarrassed about the sound that had come out of his mouth. But no one sneaked up on him!! Not when he was surrounded by his friends, the shadows. 'Who is this?'

"Naruto-kun."

'She knows my name! Not good!'

Before the stranger could continue, he ran away as fast as he could.

---

"Wow." She muttered to herself. "He's faster than I thought."

She could easily sense his Chakra Presence, though. She whistled to herself, finding it very impressive for a kid his age to have this much Chakra already. 'Well, I guess that's to be expected, since it's him.' She still hadn't gotten to getting a good look at the brat, but she was sure he was the one. 'It's been so long… I've forgotten what he looks like.'

She shivered as she noticed her surroundings. 'Likes to hang out in creepy places…' The small clearing, if it could be called that, was surrounded by trees and was completely drowned in their shadows.

"Well, Naruto-kun… You can run, but you can't hide."

---

Following his easy trail to another similar clearing, meaning the same dark shadows all around, she found to her relief she had managed to corner the little kid. 'Gotcha!'

The shadows really obscured her view upon him and she was sure, vice versa. But when she finally got a glimpse of his face, she stopped in her approach. 'S-Such fear…' His eyes were so innocent, but at the same time… ready for whatever she got planned, she felt.

"D-Don't worry…" She fumbled. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, I'm not here to-" Following his wild dash, she immediately intercepted him. He was quick, but she was quicker. She grabbed him by the arm, but he yelped so she let go instantly. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to-"

This time, Naruto jumped into a tree. "W-what do you want?" His voice… It was just so… so innocent.

"I'm… I'm not going to hurt you! I promise!" She bowed, hoping to convince the young boy. "I've just come to talk!" She had her eyes closed. She remembered Naruto, but she didn't remember such… such pain. She wasn't sure how to deal with this.

As she rose, she noticed he was still in the tree. 'He's eight years old now… I've never befriended him before, so… He wouldn't recognize me.' His body language was unlike any she's seen before. Shivering in fear in a frequency almost unnoticeable to the eyes, but she saw it. 'I knew he'd had it rough, but… I never really knew it was like this.'

"Wha-who are you?" Came his young voice, disrupting her thoughts.

"My name is Haruno Sakura." She smiled. "I'm a friend, Naruto-kun."

The confusion on the eight-year old's face wasn't a surprise to her, but the statement that came next was.

"No, you're not! I'm not allowed to have friends!"

The words echoed in her mind. 'Not allowed to have friends? What… What kind of bullshit is THAT?!' She clenched her fists, making Naruto's eyes widen. "Says who?"

Taking her anger as a bad thing and believing it was directed towards him, he pivoted on the tree branch and was ready to run, but… But he couldn't move? What was this?

---

It was all she could think of doing at the moment. And judging from how he was now completely still, she realized this was probably his first hug.

The stillness was short-lived, though. He tried with all his might to break free from the hug, thinking this to be some elaborate trap, most likely. "Luh-Let me go!!" He mumbled in her chest. "H-Huh-Help!!" He was crying now, because he knew no one would rescue him, anyway. But he continued screaming. "Please!! Help!!"

Sakura just tightened her hug and was thinking on what to do with the erratic boy in her arms. "Naruto-kun… I'm not hurting you." Came her gentle voice. "I'm hugging you."

After some more attempts of trying to get out of her grasp, Naruto deemed it futile and slumped in her arms. "Please… Please don't hurt me… I… I don't know what I've done wrong…" He was crying in her chest and she couldn't help but be hit with his sorrow.

'Of course you don't know… You haven't done anything wrong, Naruto-kun…' Sakura thought, as tears escaped her now closed eyes. 'My god… Naruto-kun… How did you manage to survive?'

---

After a full ten minutes, Sakura released Naruto from the hug and gave him her most genuine smile. To her amusement, he actually blushed and turned away. His eyes showed her what he really thought. He didn't trust her… not one bit!

"Naruto-kun. You can trust me. I promise I won't hurt you." Her eyes widened as Naruto gazed into her eyes. Under his scrutiny, she couldn't help but feel like she was being peeled layer by layer. In turn, she chose to gaze directly back into his eyes, offering her complete assistance and at the same time, trying to get a read on the young Naruto.

"You're different. You have no normal eyes." His voice was so small and she smiled.

"What do you mean?" She ventured gently.

Sakura watched the child frown. It was cute, really. "Don't you see? All the other people have different eyes. Scary eyes. You don't! Your eyes are… Your eyes are beautiful."

She blushed… It took a lot these days to make this woman blush, but she blushed. "A-ahh… Well, thank you, Naruto-kun."

But he seemed to be panicking. "It's not a compliment! You should have normal eyes, like the others. I have different eyes as well! They will-!!" The short blonde scowled as Sakura put her finger against his lips.

The Pink-haired woman shook her head. "Naruto-kun. Eyes are normal when they are like mine and yours. The others are not normal. Believe me."

---

"**Teach him and all will go as I remember." **

"_I can't believe I'm doing this!"_

---

They had spent hours and hours talking to each other, sharing stories from their own pasts. But time was running out and she had to be quick if she wanted to return. 'To think it's already morning...'

"Naruto-kun. I want to teach you something."

"Teach me what?"

"There are many people out there who you can't trust. But at the same time, there are many people who you CAN trust. Don't forget that. Everyone deserves friends, Naruto-kun. Especially you." Sakura closed her eyes in mild frustration for the next part. "Also, watch me closely as I do this…"

Naruto jumped up as Sakura performed a handseal. "Henge!!"

As the smoke cloud dispersed, Naruto fell on his back. In front of him was a naked young blonde woman where Sakura had been standing before. "Wuh-Where did you go, Sakura-chan!?!"

"This is me, this is the Oroike no Jutsu!"

---

In the Future…

Returning back to her own time, Future Naruto couldn't help but snicker at Sakura's flushed face. "So, I take it it worked?" He said in between laughs.

"Yeah, yeah! Stop laughing!!"

In truth, Naruto had perfected a Time/Space Ninjutsu and already knew what he was supposed to with it. He had won a bet against Sakura and so she had to go back in time and teach his past self the Sexy no Jutsu. It was the reason why he would always like Sakura-chan.

---

In the Past…

"Naruto, you're so annoying!! Why do you like me anyway?!"

The blonde thirteen year old just grinned. "I'll tell you some day, Sakura-chan!!"

---

END

This was rushed, I know.

But I wrote this in… ten minutes or something? It popped up in my head and I wrote it down immediately. Perhaps, I will revise this thing, but right now… I just wanted to put it up.

Thanks for reading!


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